Changes to King’s Meadow Campus hopper bus service (updated)

* Article updated with responses to questions *

From Monday 31 July the King’s Meadow Campus hopper bus will be operated by a new provider running a revised timetable.

Departure times from University Park and King’s Meadow will remain the same. However, the service will no longer go to Triumph Road and The Exchange, instead stopping on Derby Road opposite Gatehouse Lodge and the new Advanced Manufacturing Building (at Hillside – bus stop LE12).

At University Park, the new route will no longer pass the East Entrance bus stop (at the end of Science Road in Dunkirk). Alternative stops on University Park include George Green Library or East Drive.

A common theme in staff feedback has been the desire for a direct hopper bus between King’s Meadow and University Park. The revised timetable offers this, and introducing a stop on Derby Road continues to provide a link to Jubilee Campus.

Tiger European, the service provider for 2017/18, will use a minibus, in reflection of the number of passengers travelling between King’s Meadow and University Park. During exam periods separate buses are arranged to transport students to exam venues, including King’s Meadow, and it is anticipated that this will continue.

Please note: For 2017/18 it may be possible for wheelchair users to pre-book the University’s accessible minibus to travel to/from King’s Meadow campus.

Queries and feedback about the King’s Meadow hopper bus service should be sent to Tiger European (0115 940 4040, info@tiger-european.com). Queries and feedback relating to the other four hopper bus routes should continue to be sent to Nottingham City Transport’s Travel Centre (0115 950 6070, travelcentre@nctx.co.uk).

Update – Thursday 27 July

Thanks to everyone who has commented on this article. All comments have been collated and passed onto the Estate Office.

During exam periods separate buses are arranged to transport students to exam venues, including King’s Meadow, and it is anticipated that this will continue.

Please note: the new route will no longer pass the East Entrance bus stop (at the end of Science Road in Dunkirk). Alternative stops on University Park include George Green Library or East Drive.

As requested, a map of the new route has been created and can be viewed here. The full timetable, as published in the article, can be viewed here.

Information at bus stops will be updated from Monday 31 July in accordance with the new timetable.

Note: article updated Friday 21 July and Thursday 27 July with responses to questions.

32 Comments

This move is incredibly short sighted. Yes, there may be a relatively low number of people travelling between UP and KMC, but why take out the stop at the Exchange Building? Are KMC staff not worth the effort anymore?
Many of us at KMC have to travel to JC a lot more often than UP, and you’ve now added a good 20 additional minutes walk to our round trip journey times.

So how are the KMC staff supposed to use the Hopper to get to Jubilee then?
KMC to UP on one bus and then UP to Jubilee on the next?
Or are we all supposed to have cars?
Is the University going to be ok with the travelling time that this will undoubtedly increase?

July 21st, 2017 at 8:27 am

H Fayle

Can I ask what those of us less abled at KMC are now supposed to do to get to the Jubilee Campus? Or how this will work during exam times when even the existing buses are so swamped with students that staff have been stranded for over an hour on the main campus before a bus driver will allow them on board?

July 21st, 2017 at 9:04 am

S Martin

Please can you publish a map of the revised route as if it stops at the gatehouse where does it go after that as I suspect it can’t turn round on Derby Road.

July 21st, 2017 at 9:19 am

H

There are many people who travel between Jubilee Campus and King’s Meadow Campus for training/meetings etc who will be adversely effected by this move. Also the bus gets busy when students are back, especially when there are exams. Getting to KMC was hard last exam time as the buses were swamped and we had to wait half an hour between buses – this just seems unfair.

July 21st, 2017 at 11:33 am

Kenneth Robinson

Top marks for the leaning of the bus route!

Now travellers can get off at Hillside, cross Derby Road and enter JC from the Wollaton Lodge entrance, thus clocking up a little more daily exercise, approximately a 5 minute walk from Derby Road to the Exchange building.

Very well done!

July 21st, 2017 at 1:35 pm

S Colborne

I have contacted Tiger European on the email above to ask the capacity of the minibus, as the classes we run for students at KMC are often for 15 people.
I have also asked them to confirm that the University will be providing coaches for students having to attend exams at KMC.

July 24th, 2017 at 9:48 am

NR

Passenger numbers have dropped owing to the new route adopted a few years ago. Previously, there was a stop outside the QMC main entrance, which was very useful for commuting staff, those based at the QMC and those visiting the campus.

It is surprising that at a time of growth for the university the connectivity between campuses is being reduced. Whilst there is provision for those with a disability, it would seem far more inclusive to have better service between university sites, rather than requiring those with mobility problems to have to start making alternative arrangements.

July 24th, 2017 at 11:28 am

EJ

I haven’t worked at the University for long, so can’t comment on the wider impact of this. I get the 8.15am/4.25pm Hopper to/from KMC every day and (traffic allowing) it’s usually punctual and always reliable. I hope that the new service will also be dependable. I’m quite surprised that there haven’t been any notifications at bus stops regarding the changes – presumably the information at stops will be updated from the 31st?

July 24th, 2017 at 11:33 am

Jo

Whilst I appreciate that the new bus service might cause some disruption to KMC staff having an extra 20min walk to their round journey to UP or JC, but please have a thought for those of us at the City hospital campus. The hopper bus from here, which went every two hours, stopped a few weeks ago and will resume again in September (we hope?). In March the medilink began to charge us £1.20 a journey and even then only goes to QMC. We have to then walk from the main entrance to JC, UP or KMC. Our round journeys for meetings, courses or events are easily over 2 hours and not easy for those less able to walk or laden with equipment and supplies for events.

July 24th, 2017 at 4:17 pm

H

Please note: For 2017/18 it may be possible for wheelchair users to pre-book the University’s accessible minibus to travel to/from King’s Meadow campus.

How kind. Now what about those of us who aren’t wheelchair bound, but who’s ability to walk more than about 100 yards without pain is impaired? Derby Road is well outside of my ability to get to and from JC without leaving myself in severe pain.

July 24th, 2017 at 4:34 pm

E

Jo, are you aware that university staff/students can use the Local link service between UP, Jubilee and City Hospital for free? The L12 has been free since October to anyone who has a university pass, just show to driver when you get on. It stops either at City Hospital or just by the roundabout next to city hospital.

July 25th, 2017 at 9:40 am

Nadia

I can understand people’s frustration but we get even less here at City hospital. As Jo said we only got a Hopper bus last year and this has only serviced us every two hours and so really isn’t much use for getting over to QMC or UP for meetings etc. The first bus gets us to work for 9am but a lot of us have to start earlier than that and so are forced to take the medilink, which they have now started charging for and will not let university on for free so that is another £2.40 each day. This Hopper service has completely stopped for the holidays and so have no service at all for the staff that work here. We are definitely more frustrated than KMC as we have even less on offer. I have attended a number of courses over at MKC this year and have had to take the medilink to QMC and then walk from there. I was told that the L12 was free for students only?? Please please please can we have a better service for City hospital, thanks

I’m a bit confused why the route was changed and not just more buses added – even going in opposite directions – that would have solved the oddity of the one way system it was before.

Also only saw this on Campus News, 3 working days notice 🙁

July 26th, 2017 at 2:25 pm

Paul

Can anyone clarify the situation regarding the route pre 9am and post 4pm? Is this changing? Currently the majority of users on the 4.25pm bus get off at the Dunkirk roundabout stop.

July 26th, 2017 at 2:46 pm

JCH

I’ve been in touch with the new company recently. A spokesman confirms that on the King’s Meadow Campus to University Park part of the journey the bus will go straight over at the White Hart crossroads and will therefore not, we must conclude, go to Dunkirk.

July 27th, 2017 at 1:44 pm

CM

I really want to know what research went into this decision. As a regular user of the KMC hopper, I can’t recall ever being asked for feedback on the proposed route, so I’m curious how this is getting blamed on user feedback. In the name of transparency, can we see the feedback figures that you’re basing this one? As it is, we already had direct access to UP via the Science Road stop. Yes, that was a bit inconvenient when I needed to get to the other side of UP, but it just meant staying on the bus a bit longer if I didn’t want to walk. Now we won’t even have the option to get off at Science Road, so we’ll often have to get the earlier bus to ensure we make it to meetings on time.

Plus if I have a meeting in the Med School, I can’t get off at Science Road for easy access to the bridge. Am I just expected to walk now? What should I put on my timesheet for travel time? Will I get in trouble if I don’t walk fast enough and now have less time to spend actually working on a project? What do I do if it’s raining, is the uni going to pay for an Uber? Because it hardly looks professional to show up for a meeting looking like a drowned rat. These are not rhetorical questions, I do want an answer

I cannot fathom how this decision was made, with seemingly no consultation period with the people who would be impacted by it. This seems to be purely a financial decision, as anyone who even remotely cared about staff impact would not have done this. You can’t even claim this was made due to environmental impact, as you’re now just going to cause more people to use their cars.

And all of this to shave 3 minutes off the journey time. If having a normal bus route is problematic, I can understand using a minibus instead, but why change the route? All this shows is how little the decision-makers actually care about KMC staff

July 27th, 2017 at 1:49 pm

bimbo

so inconvenient…

July 27th, 2017 at 3:01 pm

brzrcb1

Thank you to everybody who has taken the time to comment on this article.

The article has been updated on 21 July and 27 July in response to queries received.

We have also passed all of the feedback on this article to the Estates team, which is leading this project.

Kind regards – Rebecca, Communications Officer (Campus News)

July 27th, 2017 at 4:39 pm

CM

Has the Disability Office been consulted at all about this? If I had a mobility impairment and was told that getting wheelchair-friendly transportation between KMC and other campuses was now a possibility rather than a guarantee, I’d be rather upset

July 29th, 2017 at 11:06 am

DP

Please could someone clarify the situation with whether there are charges for staff to use the L12? Differing information in the comments here but the article and Nottingham Community bus site only mentions that this service is free for students and I can’t get through the company on the phone to check.

August 1st, 2017 at 3:17 pm

brzrcb1

Hello, just to confirm that the L12 is not currently free for staff to use — the information in the article and Nottingham Community bus site is correct. Best wishes, Becky

July 31st, 2017 at 8:36 am

H

Having seen the vehicle for the first time this morning, I must suggest that it doesn’t look very accessible for anyone larger than a size 10… and I’m certainly going to struggle to get in and out of it easily given my problems. This really has been a very poorly thought out idea.

July 31st, 2017 at 11:15 pm

MAvlf

Apparently students are no longer allowed to use the 902 hopper bus!

So now both students and those with mobility issues are placed at a disadvantage.

“For 2017/18 it may be possible for wheelchair users to pre-book the University’s accessible minibus”

Sad to see that the University of Nottingham only aspires to give wheelchair users the same rights as everyone else.

As for making changes in response to staff feedback: did anyone actually monitor the usage throughout an entire week – and survey current users? Or has the route been changed based on feedback from anonymous individuals responding to a survey [which may poorly reflect the actual university population]?

Please give a thought to those visually impaired, and mobility restricted, members of staff who cannot get to King’s Meadow as there is no bus from QMC and walking is out of the question. The bus used to stop at the main entrance and also at the Sports Centre and Cripps Hill on UP. Can we please have a hopper that serves the needs of all staff on each campus please? I wonder who was consulted about Hopper Bus routes guessing it was not the disabled??

August 1st, 2017 at 11:40 am

CL

“For 2017/18 it may be possible for wheelchair users to pre-book the University’s accessible minibus to travel to/from King’s Meadow campus.”

Because only wheelchair users could possibly have problems using this new bus? And I’m sure there’d be no problems with the capacity of the accessible minibus if a member of staff now needed to use it to get to and from work, so two journeys per day five days a week? Every week?

Personally, I’m ok getting in to the new bus and getting out at KMC isn’t terrible. But I nearly did myself a serious injury getting out at the Hillside stop last night as the drop to the curb was much bigger than I expected and more than I can really manage given even my relatively minor mobility issues.

August 1st, 2017 at 1:35 pm

NR

“But I nearly did myself a serious injury getting out at the Hillside stop last night”

Sorry to hear that.

Unfortunately, unlike the hopper buses, the drivers of the Tiger European buses aren’t allowed to help passengers at non-university stops (otherwise I’m sure a driver would have assisted you).

This also makes things difficult for individuals who have conditions which affect or restrict arm movement, as passengers have to open and shut the sliding doors of the transit-van style minibus.

August 1st, 2017 at 3:57 pm

C

So what I’m gleaning is that this new service is no good for anyone who’s too tall or too broad, with short legs or long legs, anyone with limited leg or arm mobility, or anyone who has to carry anything heavy or is in a hurry.

Also, it’s no good for anyone who doesn’t want to be shipped in a transit van. How long before someone accidentally climbs into a delivery van instead of a hopper? To be fair, the route might be better that way

August 3rd, 2017 at 2:46 pm

brzrcb1

Good afternoon. As previously mentioned, all of the comments on this article have been passed to Estates. Please see below for the response dated 03 August 2017:

“Thank you for your comments – they will be taken into consideration.

The routing and scheduling of the hopper bus service is regularly reviewed and determined by a range of factors including passenger feedback, sustainability and cost-effectiveness of different routes, and the movement and numbers of staff and students using the services to get around our campuses.

We are aware that changing service provision does impact on individuals and will continue to monitor the situation.

If your work is affected by the changes to the King’s Meadow hopper bus provision please speak to your line manager in the first instance to discuss the options available to you. Any further queries should be sent to 902@nottingham.ac.uk.”

August 3rd, 2017 at 3:24 pm

JCH

I used the 902 this afternoon and the service was supplied by a vehicle with a hydraulic door operated by the driver (rather than a manual door).

The vehicle used on the 3rd August from around 12:45 till 18:39 was a replacement vehicle as the regular vehicle had a technical issue that has now been fixed, so today (4th August) it will be back to the normal vehicle.
Regards
Dusty
Tiger European

August 4th, 2017 at 8:13 am

MAvlf

JCH – This is a replacement bus, the first one broke down!

Hopefully they will continue to use this replacement bus – along with the automated door, it has a bit more space.